Student response to e-books: study of attitude toward reading among elementary school children in Kuwait

The paper aims to investigate the impact of e-books on attitude towards reading among elementary school students. The paper also reflects on issues related to readings and e-books.

Experimental method of research was used to carry out the study. Experiment was conducted on fourth-grade students in an international school in Kuwait. The control group consisted of nine students. The experimental group had 16 students: eight read the book under the “read-to-me” feature and the other half read the book alone. Students in the two groups were assigned readings randomly and their reactions were studied and compared using different methods.

The experiment demonstrated that students enjoyed reading the electronic medium more than the paperback alternative. The difference, however, was not significant. In addition, difference between the comprehension levels of the three conditions was also insignificant. Students did, however, finish reading the paperback book in a significantly shorter time.

A pilot study would have been desirable and also the number of questions asked in the comprehension test could have been expanded. The authors were also not able to explore the possibility of using an automated tool to record the reading time. The two reading instruments used (iPads and iPods) might have affected the students’ understanding and enjoyment of the book, although no noticeable differences were found.

The experiment indicted that one of the apparent benefits of reading the e-book was its built-in picture dictionary, as the book used in the study incorporated a lot of word coinage in his texts. Lessons learnt from the study can benefit in enhancing features of e-books and designing reading programmes to help build more positive attitude towards reading among children.

Little research has been reported in the literature on investigation of e-books towards reading attitude particularly using empirical studies or experimental research. Most literature focuses on availability of e-books and their features. This study makes a good contribution to the literature on this important aspect of research and makes available useful practical information as well.